Monday, August 29, 2011

This one has a number of balanced tweaks that are notable, as well as one performance tweak that may or may not actually do anything. We'll be curious to hear more feedback on the performance thing a wider variety of scenarios and machine setups.

In terms of the balance changes:
1. The Spirecraft Martyrs have been hit with the nerf bat really hard, thanks to player urging.
2. The Zenith Virtal Shredders have as well, but in general their swarm mechanics have also been simplified.
3. And lastly, super-stacked forcefields have also been heavily nerfed. Stacking forcefields is still a smart thing to do, but you can no longer set up a chain of them where one is being repaired under the next in an endless rotation.

There was also a bugfix to the recently-added ActivateHighestEfficiencyLowPowerEnergyReactor and PutLowestEfficiencyActiveEnergyReactorIntoLowPower keybinds.

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the
in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you
launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found
if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

With the last day of PAX Prime several hours away, it may seem a bit late to mention that Arcen Games is in fact represented at the expo! While, unfortunately, we're boothless as the timing didn't work out for us to present a build of A Valley Without Wind; we still want to be a part of the festivities in some way.

So we racked our brains over the past two days; and when that didn't help, we decided to throw this idea together late tonight instead:

If you are attending PAX and would like a free game key for AI War or Tidalis, all you have to do is stop by the 6th floor lobby--just outside the indie/PAX 10 focused area--and say hi to us (you can say more if you like.) We'll be hanging out with the folks from indie games blog DIYGamer, who will be there to take down your game request and email to send you over a game/expansion of your choosing.

Just look for the guy with the "Ask Me About A Valley Without Wind" sign taped to the back of his laptop. We'll be up there from 1:30-3:30 PM, but if you can't make it up during that time frame no worries. We'll be around most of the day so throw a tweet to @GameConnoisseur letting us know you're around and where we can meet up so you can get a key.

Sound good? Great! A preemptive thanks for tracking us down, we look forward to chatting with some of you in attendance.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Arcen Games' addicting puzzle game Tidalis is on sale for 85% off as Steam's Daily Deal for today, and today only. That means until 10 AM PDT tomorrow--Wednesday, August 24--anyone can grab a copy (or copies) of Tidalis for just $1.50/€1.20/£1.05.

For those new to the game, Tidalis is a block-based puzzler with casual appeal, hardcore depth, and an addictive mechanic that utilities "streams" to clear blocks. Simple to learn, and difficult to master as it takes a bit of brainpower to set up combos of multiple chains, and the many brainteaser-style puzzles include some real challenges.

Tidalis also brings co-op and competitive multiplayer modes (both online and offline); action-oriented modes and timer-less brainteasers. On top of that, there's a lengthy, casual-friendly adventure mode; twenty unique game modes providing innumerable twists to the basic gameplay; dozens of special blocks and items; and over fifty minutes of beautiful music to go with the painterly art. All that for just a tiny fraction of the typical price!

It's the biggest individual discount the game has received to date, and of course extends to both PC and Mac versions--in fact players get both through SteamPlay. If there's any hesitance still hanging around, check out the Steam demo available for anyone to play. Or try Tidalis Lite, a free browser-based version of the game that runs on the Unity Web Player.

About Arcen Games

Arcen Games entered the PC indie scene in 2009 with their cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which was named the 40th best-reviewed PC game of the year by MetaCritic. Their second year was a busy one, seeing the release of The Zenith Remnant, the first full expansion for AI War; Tidalis, an innovative block-based puzzle with casual appeal and hardcore depth; and Children of Neinzul, a micro-expansion for AI War with all profits benefiting the Child's Play charity, of which Arcen is a platinum sponsor.

AI War's third and largest expansion Light of the Spire marked Arcen's first release of 2011, and now the company has shifted its focus and excitement to the development of A Valley Without Wind. Originally a one-man shop, Arcen Games has grown to have half a dozen part-time or fulltime contributors to its various titles. For all the latest news, media coverage, and some of our other musings, follow us on our developer and individual game pages on Facebook or on Twitter: @ArcenGames.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

It's been so busy around here prepping for the A Valley Without Wind beta that we've slipped a bit in keeping up with sharing reviews of our games. Let's remedy the situation right now!

Two favorable reviews for Tidalis have hit relatively recently via Digital Hippos and DarkstarMatryx. Here's a bit from each (both are very enjoyable reads):

"I am not a puzzle gamer. But for those of you who are; for those of you undaunted by the likes of Bejeweled, Puzzle Quest or Clash of Heroes; for those who find no sport in World of Goo or Plants Vs. Zombies, there’s Tidalis: a game that never ceases to build upon itself, exponentially, until the ethereal mind-space between your brain implodes into a singularity that devours reality as we know it."

- Christian Higley, Digital Hippos

"Tidalis is another game in the family of falling block puzzle games, but with some entertaining differences...If you’re a casual puzzle player or a serious one, chances are you should be interested in this game."

- Raymond Matthews, DarkstarMatryx

Each review concludes by rewarding Tidalis with a 4/5 score. Thanks to both sites for taking a look!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Arcen Games is wholly excited to announce new updates for their procedurally-generated exploration and survival game A Valley Without Wind. A ton of work has been put in over the past couple months, as the game edges closer to its first playable beta. Today includes reveals for brand new character models, the introduction of armor suits, new time period details, and a full gameplay video of the title’s latest build.

AVWW now has completely new character models; more of them too! They’re a significant upgrade from what was previously in the game, and dozens--if not hundreds--of models are still in the works. Heat and Snowsuit tech-armor have been introduced as well; as hot and cold now very much matter to human inhabitants of Environ. 16 new character/armor concept art images are available to view with a breakdown of each, plus new time period details, and art credits over on Arcen CEO Chris Park’s Games By Design blog.

Many of these additions and more can be seen in the 17-minutes of gameplay footage recently released from the title’s latest build (available to view in 1080p for full effect.) Chris narrates throughout, and also has posted a full explanation of everything happening in the video over on the aforementioned developer blog.

A Valley Without Wind is on target for a playable beta release for PC and Mac in September, with instant access to those who pre-order the official version coming later this year.

About Arcen Games

Arcen Games entered the PC indie scene in 2009 with their cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which was named the 40th best-reviewed PC game of the year by MetaCritic. Their second year was a busy one, seeing the release of The Zenith Remnant, the first full expansion for AI War; Tidalis, an innovative block-based puzzle with casual appeal and hardcore depth; and Children of Neinzul, a micro-expansion for AI War with all profits benefiting the Child's Play charity, of which Arcen is a platinum sponsor.

AI War's third and largest expansion Light of the Spire marked Arcen's first release of 2011, and now the company has shifted its focus and excitement to the development of A Valley Without Wind. Originally a one-man shop, Arcen Games has grown to have half a dozen part-time or fulltime contributors to its various titles. For all the latest news, media coverage, and some of our other musings, follow us on our developer and individual game pages on Facebook or on Twitter: @ArcenGames.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

This one is a much smaller release than the last, but I predict that its effect on gameplay will actually be just as large. The main change here is that starship costs have been driven down substantially -- reduced about 33%, in most but not all cases. This makes the average combined metal/crystal costs of mark I starships closer to 80k rather than 120k, meaning that players can deploy more of them earlier in the game, more of them overall, and that they build faster.

Given the role that siege starships are intended to play against large aggressors, that's important. Excuse me -- antimatter starships. After running our poll for a while, that became the clear winner for a new name for sieges that would be more descriptive and less misleading. The description text for the animatter starship also makes it abundantly clear right from the start that their role is "capital killer," rather than their former (long ago) role as a siege cannon.

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the
in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you
launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found
if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.

Other Changes
But that's not it! Starfields actually got a bit more attractive and a bit lighter on the GPU (they were already trivially light anyhow, though). And even more importantly, fixed a longstanding bug that has been mucking with AI retreats, and which recently has been causing astro trains to stall out on player planets.

So expect a more dynamic, responsive foe when you spring a trap that the AI recognizes and wants to run away from. Previously the AI was issuing retreat orders that a good portion of its ships were simply ignoring to stay and shoot at stuff! Now they'll shoot stuff as they flee, then come back when it's inconvenient for you.

What's the deal with all the balance changes above?
Well, these are all ships that players seem to ignore as not being useful, because their cost-to-benefit ratio was just slightly off (or, in the case of riot control starships, it was too big a gamble to unlock the mark I version and then see if you need them or not).

The tweaks overall are fairly slight, but they should help bring the difficulty of the expansions (sans minor factions and other special features) back down at least a little bit closer to that of the base game alone, while at the same time encouraging experimentation and use of more of the ships that are there.

I also changed around the knowledge costs of a few of the lesser-used techs to make them more attractive. Several new things now fall into the "candy tech" realm, where they are attractive to take but start to "rot your teeth" if you take them too much. I think the same will now be true of the armored warheads when it comes to AI Progress costs, too, actually. We used to have that dynamic with lightning warheads back in the 2.0-3.0 days, and this will hopefully bring elements of that back.

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the
in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you
launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found
if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.